Application deadline

Type of course

Admission requirements

The students admitted at the Bachelor in Social Work and the Bachelor in Child Welfare are allowed to take this course. The course is in addition open for the exchange students coming from Higher Education Institutions that have a cooperation agreement with the Department of Child Welfare and Social Work. Exchange students who do not study Social Work or Child Welfare at their home institutions are not allowed to choose this course.

This course, SSO-1052, must be combined together with the course SSO-1031.

Only 5 exchange students will be admitted.

Course content

This course provides an insight into global systems, poverty, living conditions and marginalisation of significance for government and municipal welfare services as well as governmental guidelines for the organisation and management of the municipality¿s service system. Furthermore, the students acquire knowledge and skills in the evaluation of existing services, interdisciplinary professional development through planning, coordination and collaboration, as well as administration and management.

A central topic is knowledge on preventive substance abuse work and on collective approaches such as voluntary social work, self-help groups network outreach work, group and local community work.

Objectives of the course

After successful completion of the course the candidate shall:

Knowledge

The student has knowledge of:

• international social work
• receiving and settling refugees in the municipality
• social housing work at the administrative level
• user participation in the welfare sector
• how poverty in a Norwegian context develops over time, and which processes lead in and out of poverty

The student is familiar with

• international health and social policy through knowledge on the United Nations and other global organisations (EU/EEA) that affect national policies such as work immigration and social practices
• scientific methods for user surveys and recognised evaluation tools to chart risk and vulnerability in the service system
• the emergency preparedness system at different management levels, including the municipality¿s crisis and emergency preparedness groups
• financing of the public sector

Skills

The student can

• plan, adapt and implement various user surveys
• participate and be active in encounters with various partners and users
• reflect on and contribute social work competence in situations involving acute crises for individuals and groups at the local level
• account for and apply various theoretical perspectives about the economy and financing of the welfare state and account for distribution
• plan and implement measures using tools for financial management

General competence

The student shall

• account for administrative dilemmas and the users¿ need for coordinated and available welfare services
• understand social policy in a historical, cultural and international context
• understand the connection between economic conditions and social conditions
• have an insight into mechanisms that contribute to economic imbalance in society
• be able to account for social policy in a comparative and global perspective

Language of instruction and examination

Teaching methods

• compulsory skills training
• lectures
• self-studies
• various types of student active learning methods, individually and in groups
• written and oral reflection
• fieldwork, outreach work and community work

Assessment

Following  coursework requirements must be approved before the candidate may present themselves for the examination:

• Project work in groups with oral presentation to the class through various communication channels/forms.
• Attendance in compulsory skills training

Examination and assessment:

• Individual Four-hour written examination

The examination is assessed using the grading scale from A-F, whereby F is regarded as fail. A re-sit examination is arranged for students who receive grade F/fail so they can follow the normal study progression. 

Recommended reading/syllabus